Reading 2016

Dec 31, 2016

First full year commuting by public transport, which is where I’ve done the vast majority of my reading, well on public transport or hanging around empty platforms… I thought 52 books sounded very achievable this year.

Words of Radiance by Brandon Sanderson (reread)

What If? by Randall Munroe - Enjoyable, though I’d read most of it on the blog already

Liveship Traders: Ship of Magic by Robin Hobbs - fantastic fantasy, I waspulled right in to the whole series. Not sure that I’ve read fantasy set on boats since the Dawntreader.

Liveship Traders: The Mad Ship by Robin Hobbs

Liveship Traders: Ship of Destiny by Robin Hobbs

Farseer Trilogy: Assassin’s Apprentice by Robin Hobbs - the first part of the first series in the World of the Ealderlings series. Should have read this trilogy before the Liveship Traders, though it didn’t make much odds. Another fantastic trilogy, possibly slightly better than the Liveship Traders trilogy.

Farseer Trilogy: Royal Assassin by Robin Hobbs

Farseer Trilogy: Assassin’s Quest by Robin Hobbs

Speaker for the Dead by Orson Scott Card (reread)

Xenocide by Orson Scott Card (reread)

Children of the Mind by Orson Scott Card (reread)

Ender in Exile by Orson Scott Card (reread)

Tawney Man Trilogy: Fools Errand by Robin Hobbs - Really enjoyable series, not quite as addictive as the Farseer Trilogy. You definitely get the sense of this as the start of a trilogy, setting up for the stories to follow.

Tawney Man Trilogy: Golden Fool by Robin Hobbs. Settled back in to the world now, feels like a story in its own right.

Tawney Man Trilogy: Fools Fate by Robin Hobbs, surprised me with the sweet ending. The last 10% of the story, felt like a protracted epilogue though. This trilogy was not quite as good as the Farseer or Liveship trilogy

Fall of the Roman Empire by Peter heather. (reread)

Old man’s war by John Scalzi (reread)

The Ghost Brigades by John Scalzi (reread)

The Last Colony by John Scalzi (reread)

Zoe’s Tale by John Scalzi (reread)

The human division by John Scalzi (reread)

End of all things by John Scalzi, the reason for re-reading the others was that I knew I had this to read. Really enjoyed reading the whole series yet again.

Good Omens by Pratchett and Gaiman (reread)

The Man Who Cycled the World by Mark Beaumont, quite an interesting non-fiction read.

Last Kingdom by Bernard Cornwall (reread)

Little Brother by Cory Doctrow (reread)

A Game of Thrones by GRRM (reread)

A Clash of Kings by GRRM (reread)

A Storm of Swords by GRRM (reread)

A Feast for Crows by GRRM (reread)

A Dance With Dragons by GRRM (reread)

Dunc and Egg by GRRM. Set in the same world as Game of Thrones but much earlier. Really enjoyed having some fresh ASoIAF material to read.

House of Cards 2 by Michael Dobbs (reread) couldn’t remember it very well, so I re-read in preparation for the third in the series.

House of Cards 3 by Michael Dobbs Enjoyed more than the second, neither come close to the first.

Mistborn Secret History by Brandon Sanderson, surprising find, didn’t expect this to exist. Definitely for fans of the mistborn trilogy only.

Frankenstein by Marie Shelley Decided to read something more classic after binging on fantasy, glad I did.

Jekyll and Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson. Shame it was so short

The Odyssey by Homer, I really enjoyed it, it’s where a large part of the Greek myths that everyone vaguely sort-of knows comes from. Probably shouldn’t compare it, but I preferred the Illiad - wider variety of gods, more perspectives, more variance. The odyssey has lots of fleet-footed Athene doing things, Odysseus being anointed with olive oil before getting his companions killed and moaning about the suitors.

The Last Kingdom by Bernard Cromwell (second reread of the year) Back to fantasy after areciating some classics. Decided to read the whole series so started at the beginning again.

The Pale Horseman by Bernard Cromwell

The Lords of the North by Bernard Cromwell

Sword Song by Bernard Cromwell

Burning Land by Bernard Cromwell

Death of Kings by Bernard Cromwell

Pagan Lord by Bernard Cromwell

Empty Throne by Bernard Cromwell

Warriors of the Storm by Bernard Cromwell Really enjoyed reading The Last Kingdom series, but binging like this has merged them a bit in my head.

Proxima by Baxter - nice bit of sci-fi, the world building was good, the characters were a bit 2d.

Ultima by Baxter - pretty poor sequel. Romans in space.

Necromancer by William Gibson. (reread)

Catch 22 by Joseph Heller (reread) - still enjoyable, not quite as laugh out loud as he first few times I read it as a teen.

Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson (reread) - still funny.

3 men in a boat by JK Jerome (reread) - not as funny as I remembered

Seven Eve’s by Neal Stephenson - Absolutely fantastic, especially the first two parts. Kind of get the feeling more could have been done with part 3.